Summer Island by Kristin Hannah

From the author of The Women and The Nightingale, Summer Island is a poignant, warm and tender novel about a mother and daughter: the complex ties that bind them, the past that separates them, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.

Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice, while her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedian who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humour.

When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora’s past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic. After Nora is injured in an accident, a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother and Ruby returns home under the pretext of taking care of the woman she hasn’t spoken to for almost a decade. Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up; a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging.

There, Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends; inseparable. Until the summer that Nora left, and everyone’s hearts were broken .

. . Praise for Kristin Hannah:‘Utterly absorbing .. . A triumph’ – Taylor Jenkins Reid, bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six‘Stuns with sacrifice.Uplifts with heroism’ – Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry‘Moving and unforgettable’ – Christy Lefteri, bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo‘A classic storyteller’ – Matt Haig, bestselling author of The Midnight Library

Format:Paperback / softback 416 pages
Publisher:Pan Macmillan
Imprint:Pan Books
ISBN:9781035045952
Published:18 Jun 2026
Classifications:Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Weight:278g